Liverpool eventually settled on moves for both Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak on a busy transfer deadline day, but the Reds were also sizing up other options should either of those deals fall flat.
Davies, 25, has arrived from Preston on a long-term contract for a relatively low fee, with the Reds putting down around £500,000 of a £1.6m transfer fee upfront.
Kabak, meanwhile, heads to Anfield on a kind of 'try before you by' loan deal from Schalke, with the 20-year-old joining in a move that doesn't include an obligation for Liverpool to buy, but does state that the final fee will be £18m should they wish to do so.
The pair have arrived to help solve a mounting centre-back injury crisis at Anfield, which worsened on Monday when it was confirmed that Joel Matip will miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury.
Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez are both likely to be out for the rest of the campaign too, with Jurgen Klopp left counting the cost of quite remarkable bad luck.
Davies and Kabak will hope to at least partially solve the problems, but Liverpool had also contacted Marseille about their centre-back Duje Caleta-Car as they targeted several defenders on deadline day.
The Croatian international, 24, was hoping to make the move to Merseyside, and was even reportedly set to board a flight to Manchester ready for the switch.
The defender's girlfriend Adriana Durdevic also uploaded a video of the pair to her Instagram Story featuring the backing track of 'You'll Never Walk Alone'.
The Mail Online report that Caleta-Car was left "devastated" at the collapse of the move, with Marseille unable to find a replacement for him in time.
The Ligue 1 side needed an EU-registered player to replace Caleta-Car, but could only do a loan deal.
As they failed to find a suitable player, Caleta-Car's switch was off.
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